The Man From Earth
I am Legend
Gone Baby Gone
The Mist
Zodiac

zoo, blackbook, margot at wedding, i’m not there, before the devil knows you’re dead, rescue dawn, tv set, girl next door, once, american gangster

Thanks for the comments! Funnily enough, the idea of a self contained project has been on my mind for a while now. I’m hoping to get something going this year. Stay tuned!

Even if I dont like it as much as you or Jay did, I can say I definitely, DEFINITELY, respect it more than some that I found more fun.

Personally, I’m just looking for anything interesting when I watch a film. Especially a film like this. And I thought that Zoo deliberately played down the actual events that sorround and inspired the film, in order to be something completely different. So while you thought Cop #1 was taking away from the main story and felt like padding to make the movie longer, I took the scene as part of what the film was in and of itself. I guess it might come down to what you think the movie is actually about.

I certainly do not feel that Zoo was trying to tell a story and failed. The movie IS the representation, not the content. Wether or not you like that, is going to be subjective.

I might not have singled it out if it had been interesting (even if i still thought it pointless), I just thought it was several minutes of well, nothing – and I wouldnt say that about the rest of the film, regardless of the sombre way its told. I still liked Zoo overall, but the most I can say for Cop #1 is that his scene looks nice and you get a “hey! its Cop #1!” moment later on.

“In essence, what is the point of any documentary? Is the point of Zoo to enlighten the people involved with the animal sex farm? It could be. It could also be looked at as an experiment in form, playing around with both texture and structure – to the point of actually commenting on it itself – to try and give the viewer a more subjective experience of this particular subject.”

I can see what you mean when you say this. I’m fine with Zoo’s limited scope. I’m not asking for it to be this talking heads psychological thing about beastiality with a grand scope. I’m not going to complain about what it isn’t, my only complaints come from what it is – the fact is whether half assed or not there IS a story in this film and Zoo’s presentation of it is both its greatest strength and biggest weakness… am I making any sense?

“…and if you think that is the perfect documentary”

It’s not my idea of THE perfect documentary. I gave it top marks under a different set of criteria. I dont think AIC would even be in my top 25 docs of all time. Do I prefer more straight forward, informative documentaries? Maybe, I’m not entirely sure. I mean, you’ve got something like Hoop Dreams and the Paradise Lost movies – and then you have Air Guitar Nation, which is nice and entertaining, but… feels like TV.

Hmmm…. this can get pretty broad.
I mean, Helvetica is about graphic design but it has overtones of generation gaps, rebellion – the way its told has more relevance than just a font.
put that against… well, Wordplay or Spellbound, which feel like actual films and dont have much ambition other than these direct personal stories/competitions.

I dont think I have set criteria for film, especially documentaries. Whether something needs to be talking heads start to finish, recreations or seem to have a moving plot really depends. In Zoo’s case I’m completely willing to take the bizarre stylistically centered journey – thats why I bought it in the first place, I knew I was walking into something “arty”, I just found myself a little frustrated from time to time

its a conflict – do you lose yourself in the textural elements or get more wound up in the story? Once I got settled enough into Zoo’s style, I found myself ready to get more of the story within its framework, and I guess I just wanted more. If Zoo had been two hours of the same pace, I may have been fulfilled story wise, but with its short running time, every bit of ‘padding’ just stood out more…

I could go on but it feels like rambling now.